Political speech, timestamped and in context

Bernie Sanders: “Never before in American history have so few people had so much wealth and so much power.”

Featuring: Bernie Sanders, Independent | U.S. Senate, Vermont

'Democracy Is Not Billionaires Buying Elections': Bernie Sanders Talks Voting As Midterms Approach

Published October 6, 2026

And the reason for that gets us to the bad news. And the bad news is you are now living in a nation in which Never before in American history have so few people had so much wealth and so much power. And never before have we seen a level of greed, of arrogance and of irresponsibility. (01:35–01:44)

STATEMENT

Asserts unprecedented wealth and power concentration in the hands of a few.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

See the main statements from Bernie Sanders in this video

“60% of our people [are] living paycheck to paycheck.”
Asserts that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.03:29-03:34
“This district, which has, as I understand it, the highest percentage of Medicaid recipients of any congressional district in America.”
Claims this district has the highest percentage of Medicaid recipients in the U.S.08:37-08:46
“He [the congressman] voted to throw 70,000 people off Medicaid.”
Claims a congressman voted to remove 70,000 people from Medicaid.08:46-08:53
“You're living in the only major country that does not guarantee health care to every man, woman and child.”
Claims the U.S. is the only major country without guaranteed health care for all citizens.10:38-10:44
“France probably spends half as much per person than we do, as we do on health care.”
Claims France spends about half per person on health care compared to the U.S.11:08-11:14
“Medicare for all [is] supported by 63% of the American people.”
Claims that 63% of Americans support Medicare for all.11:45-25:23
“Bezos is investing $100 billion to automate factories in the US and around the world.”
Claims that Jeff Bezos is investing heavily in automation.18:29-18:38
“The very richest people in this country have never in the history of America had it so good.”
Asserts that the wealthiest Americans are currently experiencing unprecedented prosperity.04:40-04:49
“Trump is doing something else, trying to make it harder for people to vote, attacking the media.”
Asserts that Trump is taking actions to suppress voting and attack the media.06:43-06:49
“We have a corrupt campaign finance system.”
Asserts that the U.S. campaign finance system is corrupt.06:52-06:57
“We have got to get rid of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.”
Asserts the need to overturn the Citizens United decision.07:34-07:39
“We have got to get super PACs out of elections.”
Asserts the need to eliminate super PACs from elections.07:45-07:50
“We got to move toward public funding of elections.”
Advocates for public funding of elections.07:52-07:56
“Health care is not a privilege. It is a human right.”
Asserts that health care should be considered a human right.08:18-08:24
“He [Trump] starts a war that was 100% unnecessary, started on a lie.”
Claims Trump started an unnecessary war based on a lie.08:46-13:29
“The American health care system is broken. It is dysfunctional. It is cruel.”
Asserts that the U.S. health care system is flawed and inadequate.09:36-09:43
“The function of the current health care system is not to provide quality care to all. It is to make huge profits for the insurance companies and the drug companies.”
Claims the U.S. health care system prioritizes profits over quality care.11:21-11:34
“We need to go to a Medicare for all single payer program.”
Advocates for a Medicare for all single-payer health care system.11:44-11:49
“Trump runs for president and he said, we are going to put an end to endless war, wars. And like so many other things, he lied.”
Claims Trump lied about ending endless wars.12:53-13:07
“We have lost 19 American service members.”
Claims 19 American service members have been lost in the conflict.13:29-13:33
“We're not going to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on endless wars.”
Opposes spending hundreds of billions on ongoing wars.14:00-14:06
“We're not going to give another nickel to the extremist government of Israel to continue their assault on the Palestinian people.”
Asserts that the U.S. should stop funding Israel due to its actions against Palestinians.14:11-14:21
“We have ICE agents breaking down doors, arresting kids, arresting people who have worked in this country for 10, 20, 30 years.”
Asserts that ICE is arresting long-term residents and families in the U.S.14:57-15:12
“We have got to move this country as soon as possible to comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship.”
Advocates for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship.15:22-15:34
“AI will eliminate many, many millions of jobs in the coming years.”
Predicts that AI will lead to significant job losses.17:59-18:05
“In 10 years, truck drivers will no longer have a job major. Those big trucks will be run by driverless vehicles.”
Predicts that driverless vehicles will replace truck drivers within a decade.19:18-19:27
“We are looking at the possibility, evisceration of privacy rights in America.”
Warns of potential erosion of privacy rights due to technology.20:15-20:22
“Deep fake is getting better and better. You will have a very difficult time determining whether the person who's talking is that person or not.”
Claims that deep fake technology is advancing, making it hard to verify authenticity.20:50-21:01
“AI will be smarter than human beings.”
Asserts that AI will surpass human intelligence.21:41-21:45
“We should place a pause on advanced AI development.”
Advocates for a pause on the development of advanced AI due to potential dangers.22:39-22:44
“People are now supporting progressive candidates who are prepared to stand with the working class and take on the oligarchs.”
Asserts a trend of increasing support for progressive candidates.23:41-23:50
“The billionaires should start paying their fair share of taxes.”
Advocates for increased taxation on billionaires.24:16-24:20
“We are the richest country in the history of the world.”
Asserts that the United States is the wealthiest nation historically.24:44-24:47
“Ending endless wars [is] supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people.”
Claims that most Americans support ending continuous military conflicts.25:23-25:28
“Taxing the billionaires [is] supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people.”
Claims that most Americans support higher taxes on billionaires.25:27-25:28